[shokkyy]

I can remember reading somewhere that the environment inside a polytunnel tends to be dry. I put mine up a couple of weeks back, with just a few tomato and chilli plants in there, and I've been surprised by the high humidity level in there. Also surprised by just how much warmer it is in there compared to outside. We had a bit of ground frost the other day, but when I walked in there it was like a little sauna, way warmer than my greenhouse ever was even when it did have all the glass. There also seems to be quite a lot of condensation coming off the cover, which is actually doing a fairly good job of drip watering the plants in there

So is it true that a polytunnel is supposed to have a dry environment, or not? If yes, is my humidity down to the cover (it is a cheapie)? I'll have to watch that humidity with the plants prone to mildew, but it does have some little mesh windows down each side I can open to let some air through, though I certainly won't be doing that in these cooler temps. But my peppers are going to love the heat, that's for sure.

[mumofstig]

No they are not a dry environment, you do need to have some ventilation even in winter, or plants will suffer with  mildew/damping off....if you keep it closed up like I did in the first winter I had one..........you'll lose a lot of stuff. It's a steep learning curve 

[shokkyy]

No they are not a dry environment, you do need to have some ventilation even in winter, or plants will suffer with  mildew/damping off....if you keep it closed up like I did in the first winter I had one..........you'll lose a lot of stuff. It's a steep learning curve 

Thanks for that, I hadn't realised I'd need to do that in winter. I've got 6 little netted windows low down on each side that I can open. Would you open them all in the winter or just one or two? And do you open them all day or just for an hour or two in the warmest part of the day?

[AlaninCarlisle]

Mine was designed with permanently open mesh panels at the tops of the doors so I guess the answer must be yes to ventilation in winter